Recently I’ve been turning to books and reading to help relax and stop my brain from constantly cycling through my to-do list. Growing up, I always did a ton of reading in the summers, and I feel like I’ve been conditioned to spend time reading in the summer. I recently finished a collection of essays and poems called I Can’t Believe It’s Not Betterby Monica Heisey who is a writer and comedian from Toronto. It is so funny and relatable. I especially loved that the stories took place in and around Toronto.

I’ve been reading a combination of non-fiction and fiction, I’m halfway through Aidan Donnelly Rowley’s The Ramblersright now and loving it, but my next ‘project’ is to do a deep dive into some culinary reading and research.

When I was working in a test kitchen, I was constantly learning and improving my skills. Learning to think about flavours and balance, texture and taste. How to actually season your food properly (everyone should learn this!). Combining all of these elements to make your recipes better each time you are developing and testing them. It’s been over a year and a half since I had that job and I’ve definitely been missing how much I would learn about food each and every day because there is always something new to learn about food and cooking.

I’ve got a growing list of classic cookbooks, memoirs and gastronomic bibles. If I actually had all of these books, my bedside table and desk would be piled high. Many of these books aren’t available anymore but can be found in the reference library in Toronto. So you can expect to find me there over the next little while. Maybe I’ll document and share some of my findings on here (or on Instagram) is that something you’d be interested in?

These grilled salmon skewers are a basic recipe but I find a lot of people are intimidated by grilling fish. It’s so easy to overcook and can fall apart right on the grill. Trust me, I’ve made both of those mistakes before. The trick to making salmon skewers (or skewers of any type) is to be very selective with the kinds of veggies you are grilling along with your protein. Because salmon cooks quickly, I opted for onion, zucchini and bell peppers because I knew they would cook in the same time as the fish.

The other key to making skewers or kabobs is in the marinade. I marinate the veggies and salmon in the same bowl to keep things simple. It’s a very basic marinade of olive oil, lemon juice, salt and dried thyme. I’m using dried herbs here because they won’t burn on the grill and can stand up to high temperatures and direct grilling.